January 18, 2009

The opening segment features a mostly forgettable jam from Shelby into The City. The one neat thing about this segment is that this is the first time the band did this Shelby > City > Shelby sequence which ultimately became a staple of the band. The return jam is the better of the two, and at least has some great Magner stuff going on as they absolutely crush the Shelby peak. The Helicopters jam is okay. It features Magner on an arpeggiator for most of the jam, and Barber uses the gated FX that’s a staple in the Uber Glue composition, but for the most part this felt a little bit like treading water. I am pretty torn on the Abraxas jam. I have seen some list this as an all-time great. I’m not sure I agree. The first five minutes or so are wholly forgettable, but the band lands on a really interesting segment around the 15-minute mark. Magner begins using the frog throat croak patch, and Allen begins accenting the end of each stanza with thirst quenchers. Brownstein is on the MIDI keyboard, and for 2-3 minutes or so this is extremely digital and incredibly cool. Magner even throws in the angel choir patch, and these few minutes are awesome. However, I am not crazy about Barber’s play here. He keeps doing this thing where he’s bending notes, almost sounding like he’s going for this bungee cord effect. I found this pretty annoying in general, and really torpedoed the jam for me. That said the few minutes before it was incredible, so I noted this as a highlight nonetheless. However, the best stuff here only lasts 2-3 minutes for me. I’m glad to see Barber trying new things, always, this one simply doesn’t land in my opinion. The Digital Buddha jam has a lot of wasted motion. The first 7-8 minutes of the jam are filler; a generic dance jam. Not much more to say beyond that. Around the 13-minute mark, the band slides into a half-time feel, and they begin a plodding death march theme. This does nothing for me, and felt like it lasted an eternity. Eventually they hasten and wind up in a drum and bass beat into the end of Robots to mercifully end the set.

The Morph > Spaga segment begins with a totally forgettable, paint by numbers, Morph jam. The first Spaga jam is similarly forgettable; a predictable DNB jam. However, the second jam actually gets reasonably outside of the box. This is mostly Magner-led, though Barber’s choice of chords here is great and leads to a quality build. Rather than return to Spaga, they build into the beginning of Dribble with some cool communication from Barber and Magner. The Dribble jam begins with 5-6 minutes of a standard first jam. Barber is very noodly in this section of the jam, and forecloses any real opportunity of the band hitting on anything interesting. With five minutes or so left in the Dribble track, the band shifts into a reasonably decent dance jam, though this lasts only a few minutes before Barber becomes aimless and noodly once again. This winds up coalescing into the ending of Kamaole Sands, and Barber’s shrill tone here combined with monotonous shredding makes for a less than ideal end to the segment. The Memphis first jam begins with the same sort of aimless noodling from Barber. Allen has his full e-drum kit on display, with tons of thirst quenchers and another noises. After a few minutes of noodling, Barber finally gets into something with a little bit more purpose, and – surprise, surprise – the jam is much better for it. This turns into a cool, digital hip-hop jam, complete with Brownstein on MIDI keyboard. The Waves encore begins with an uptempo trance jam, quickly shifts downtempo, then back uptempo for the Morph ending. Nothing here beyond another fairly predictable jam.

Highlights: The City, Abraxas*, Spaga (2), Memphis (1*)

Stupendous 1st set ; the 2nd? there are a few peaks.

1A-- Really, REALLY love this 'Shelby~>City~>Shelby' opener. It's more of an emotionally uplifting trio than technically perfect jams but don't get it twisted...Barber is all over 'the City' is a relaxed state...pretty standard until Mags takes over so to speak until Shelby gets her reprise in a HUGE way. Very nice jam to end 1A, real nice. 2A- This is the reason you tour the northeast for a week in freezing weather while you're drenched from dancing like a maniac. Can you say Vitamin C and Ketamine? But in all honesty the closing packet of ''Helicopters > Abraxas > Digital Buddha >'' is beautiful. Very standard tunes with the 2009 magic. Which to me simply means 100% attentiveness to the other bandmates, subconsciously knowing you are on a special plateau and risks all day long.

SET 2: Look for the 'Morph jam ~> Spaga(90% very good;damn dragons) ~> Dribble'

The 1st is where it's at with a hat.

Blessings, Salutations, Coagulation & Electrocoagulation to all.